London buses and bananas
are not the only things that come in bunches. Hardly had
the Naxos recording of Robert Parsons’ music come off the
presses when The Sixteen included two pieces by him on
their new album. My colleagues have already reviewed the
Naxos recording in detail: RH thought the disc impressive,
though he would have preferred greater attention to the
English words – see review;
MS was even more impressed – see review.
I agree with them in welcoming the recording; it only remains
for me to point out its availability as a download from
classicsonline.com in very acceptable mp3 sound – actually
at 320kbps, so even better than the 192kbps which is the
classicsonline minimum – and with the opportunity to print
the booklet from an Adobe Acrobat document. Those with
keen hearing will always prefer wma or wav downloads, but
320kbps mp3 will be more than enough for the great majority
of listeners.

I’d just like to correct
a couple of wrong ends of sticks perhaps obtained from
misleading suggestions in the Naxos notes. The service
of Evensong, as prescribed in the first Book of Common
Prayer of 1549 and in the Elizabethan book of 1559, was
not exactly a new service – Vespers was traditionally known
by that title in England, but Cranmer’s innovation was
to translate it into English, re-order the manner in which
the psalms and lessons were sung or recited, and add the
canticle Nunc Dimittis from the late-night service
of Compline. The two settings of the Magnificat on
the CD, the first in Latin, the second in English from
Parsons’ First Great Service, illustrate the greater emphasis
on clarity of the words which the reformed order brought
with it.

The Latin setting, though
probably composed during the brief reign of Queen Mary,
who restored the Roman rite, could have continued to be
used at the Chapel Royal in Elizabeth’s reign, as a place
where the language was “understanded of the people”, but
the Latin responses from the Office of the Dead could not,
since they were part of the elaborate late-medieval belief
in purgatory, vigorously swept away by the reformers as “a
fond thing vainly invented.” Of all the changes which the
1549 Prayer Book brought, the Burial Service contained
the most drastic and the 1552 revision, repeated in the
Elizabethan book of 1559, was more drastic still. Prayer
for the dead was a thing of the past in England during
Parsons’ composing career, except for the brief interim
reign of Mary from 1553-1558. Only the text Credo quod
redemptor – I know that my Redeemer liveth – was carried
over into the English Burial Service, so this is the only “portion
of the music” which, as the Naxos notes claim, “could have
been written during the reign of Elizabeth I”.

The Ave Maria may
well have been sung in the Chapel Royal, though not as
a votive antiphon at the end of Compline after 1559, since
the text contains only the angelic greeting, omitting the
prayer to the Virgin Mary which was contrary to reformed
theology. Compline having been merged with Evensong, the
end of Evensong came to be the place where “in Quires and
Places where they sing, here followeth the Anthem”, as
the Prayer Book quaintly puts it. Parsons did not become
a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal until 1563, well into Elizabeth’s
reign.

Both my colleagues are
lenient on Naxos’s omission of texts – they have to be
downloaded from the Naxos website. Hasn’t anyone cottoned
on to the fact that CD buyers find this irritating – that
they would have saved themselves a few pence by downloading
the recording if they were into downloading?

The Sixteen cast their
nets wider, offering not only music by the neglected Parsons,
whom I rate as a major discovery, but also that of Robert
White and Christopher Tye who have also yet to receive
their fair share of appreciation. We could have done without
another version of the Parsons Ave Maria, already
available in at least two anthologies as well as on the
Naxos recording, but The Sixteen offer a very sympathetic
performance of it, brisker than that of Voces Cantabiles.
The piece is so beautiful that it will easily bear both
interpretations, but I marginally prefer The Sixteen.

Even more beautiful is
the second Parsons work, O bone Jesu, a long piece
which in no sense outstays its welcome in the excellent
performance which it receives here.

Robert White or Whyte,
Master of the choristers successively at Ely, Chester and
Westminster Abbey, is best known, if at all, for his Lamentations,
so it is again a pity that The Sixteen did not choose to
offer something less well known, but the 5-part set included
here is less well known than the 6-part setting. Again,
the melancholy beauty of the music and the passionate beauty
of the singing disarm criticism. There being no native
English tradition of setting the Lamentations, White had
to turn to continental models and their influence is more
apparent in this 5-part setting than in his 6-part version.

A recent Harmonia Mundi
recording of Music for Compline performed by Stile Antico
(HMU90 7419, SACD HMU80 7419) features (the same?) setting
of Christe, qui lux es. I haven’t heard this recording
and I don’t think it has come the way of any of my colleagues,
but it has been very well received elsewhere; I don’t think,
however, that it is likely to excel the performance on
Coro – a simple performance of a beautiful piece with no
sense of over-egging the pudding: this is a pudding which
neither needs nor receives such treatment, with its alternating
plainchant and polyphonic verses.

My favourite recording
of White’s 6-part Lamentations and Libera me,
Domine, on ASV, has been deleted but reissued by Regis.
I strongly recommend it: Tears and Lamentations,
music by White coupled with works from the Fayrfax MS and
Henry VIII’s Book (Pro Cantione Antiqua/Mark Brown and
Edgar Fleet) once seen as ASV CDQS6151 and now available
as Regis RRC 1259.

Christopher Tye was White’s
father-in-law and predecessor at Ely, so it is fitting
that the CD ends with two of his works. If the Agnus
Dei makes you want to hear the whole Mass, Euge
bone, from which it is taken, that is my only complaint
about the pieces chosen or their performance. Let me recommend
the coupling of the Mass with Anthony Mundy’s Magnificat,
performed by Jeremy Summerly and the Oxford Camerata (Naxos
8.550937, also as a 320kbps mp3 download from classicsonline.com.)
This and Peccavimus cum patribus nostris – a work
with a penitential text, “We have sinned as our fathers
did”, but uplifting music – make a fine end to a wholly
recommendable recording.

The Sixteen and The Tallis
Scholars are sometimes criticised for sounding too polished – both
groups certainly are that – but both almost invariably
go beyond mere polish. So it is here: the singing is deeply
affective as well as highly accomplished. In many ways
this is The Sixteen’s best recording since that of Carver’s Dum
sacrum mysterium (COR16051) still just about my favourite
among their recordings.

The acoustic and recording
balance are just right and the notes are informative. The
booklet cover is more attractive than that of the Naxos
which, for once, is rather nondescript.

The Coro recording is
also available to download from classicsonline.com and
theclassicalshop.net. Both offer it as an mp3 at 320kbps;
theclassicalshop also offers the opportunity – generously
available to all-comers – to download and print the booklet,
which, unlike the Naxos booklet, does contain full texts
and translations. The mp3 sound is more than adequate.
I can’t speak for the versions on eMusic and iTunes, though
the former are usually reliable and the latter offered
in their higher-quality ‘plus’ format.

Both these recordings
are recommendable, especially to those who already know
some of the more frequently recorded Tudor composers. If
you don’t yet know much of the gold medallists, Byrd and
Tallis, you should begin with them; otherwise you’ll be
more than happy with these silver medal runners-up. One
way or the other, you should obtain one or both of these
recordings; if you can’t be bothered to download, just
order the CDs and, when they arrive, sit back and enjoy.

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